Marilynn Hill

Nadja, you are absolutely correct, governor Ritter was a democrat, I apologize and stand corrected.

Would you mind expanding on the liberal agenda statement? I don't want to make an assumption as to what you mean.

Congrats on beginning business here for almost the entire time you have lived in Moffat County. You are correct in being away from a major highway is detrimental, but it is only one factor in the economic success of this county and one that can be overcome.

One of the many challenges we face are self imposed and can be overcome with out of the box thinking. The secession talk is nothing new here, but in my opinion is old and worn out. At what point do we stop wasting our time on plans which have little or no chance of succeeding? At what point do we have community meetings sans political rhetoric that culminates in forward progress for all residents? At what point do we put together a plan to truly move beyond the argument of this is all we have ever been and this is all we can ever be statement?

The USDA SET Program will have their readouts in a couple months; will our community snub the readouts, or take a real look at the changes needed?

In the meantime, vote away at secession, it will be another attempt to undermine what democracy has attempted to accomplish for a couple of centuries and that is representation of the people through majority rule. Draw the line in the proverbial sand; what is the intended outcome and what if that outcome does not come to fruition? The challenges we all face are how many times are we going to draw and redraw voting districts to favor one political party over another, thus undermining the idea of one vote does make a difference. Allowing corporations to have rights like the people which is completely against the combined 13th and 14th Amendments has changed the voting landscape in ways we don't yet truly understand. How long are we going to ignore disenfranchised voters due to economic, socio, race, sex, religious or any other thing we find different than ourselves?

Times change who we are and new generations thank goodness accept one another more openly than past generations. Reverend Bernice King said it well today, "when does standing your ground become more important than finding common ground?" Have a good night.

I will suggest here as I have multiple times while sitting in the office of Jeff Comstock, Moffat County Natural Resources Director; put a calendar on the wall with a date twenty years from now and have a plan as a community to completely economically diversify the county by that date! Let’s continue to value and work with all the natural resources we have, whilst finding other ways to keep moving forward and growing.

It would be great to stop being ranked 59th out of 59 counties in Colorado as the unhealthiest county in the state. The measured outcome was based on behaviors that included smoking, obesity, physical inactivity and drinking. I would like to see the commissioner’s step up and lead by putting forth a plan that is workable in getting our county healthy, after all, we can learn something from our neighbors in Routt ranking number five out of all 59 counties in Colorado. Let’s look at education, one that Commissioner Kincaid is very familiar with in this county. Back in 2010, CMS students were testing almost in all subjects below fifty percent of expectations for their grade level. We were put on an improvement plan by the state that basically said, “WAKE UP”. Three years later, we are not much better, and as a matter of fact in the sciences, we have actually dropped to 39.77%.

Our leaders need to have a plan outside of secession banter to improve the county and if they don’t have a plan, get one or at least look at what others have developed through their Best Practice methodologies, tweak and copy those! If we want companies to move here, then make it an attractive place for companies and their workers to work and live by making it an economically and educationally vibrant community, while because family friendly.

My point is this, lead or get out of the way, but don’t put your head down and walk away from a challenge as life is not fully lived by what political party one is affiliated. My family came to the Colorado territory as pioneers in the early 1860s; we didn’t run when times got tough over the last 150 years and I don’t plan on changing the game plan now.

Nadja, please don't make this into a liberal or a conservative issue. H.B. 10-1365 was an economic decision that was played out under a GOP Colorado Governor; pushed through with the strong armed tactics of Xcel Energy and the natural gas industry; was written and sponsored by both Senate and House western slope politicians. If we want our community to thrive then we need to diversify the economy. Build or attract companies which provide both primary and secondary jobs that can withstand the boom and bust of an extraction based industry economy that will thrive with or without one another, not because of one particular industry.

To your point, if we want only what the majority always wants then why don’t we go back to a Colorado where you and I didn’t have a voice in the voting booth, because that was not what the majority wanted in Colorado until 1893, even though Colorado became a state in 1876, and it was not until the 19th Amendment which was ratified in 1920, did women gain the right to voice in national elections. Why don’t we just go back to the original Constitution before the Bill of Rights as the original authors were fine without individual rights being written into our governing document?

According to the Moffat County Clerk and Recorders office, in November 2011, there were 9,014 registered voters in Moffat County; of those registered, 2,783 voted in that election, which was approximately 30.8% of the population. Please share with me where Commissioners’ Mathers and Kincaid get the notion that a majority of people in Moffat County feel disenfranchised, when less than 31% even show up to give meaning to their beliefs through the casting of their vote?

I have a better idea, why don’t we stop whining about not getting our way at the Colorado State House as an individual county; stop with the standing our ground attitude and find common ground? I have understood for a long time how it can feel to be disenfranchised in this county, you see come the primary voting season, if I want to have a voice of governance through my vote, I have to change from being registered as an independent and register as a republican. Do you think having Coloradoans only being able to vote party lines in primaries gives a full voice to ALL the people and ensures a full account of the vote of the people, it does not guarantee any particular outcome. A robust democracy is about full engagement and participation of the all voters, but it doesn’t not necessarily equate to fairness. What is wonderful about our democracy, if you truly don’t like who your representative is locally, state wise or nationally, you have a chance to put your voice forward every 2 to 4 years respectively. I am reminded of a great quote by Rory Stewart, “If local democracy is to flourish, it has to have the active and informed engagement of EVERY citizen.”

A big thank you goes out to everyone who pulled off this great event this year; who said firework shows are only for kids? This was our first year to attend the fireworks for 4th of July celebration and the kids and I had a wonderful time.

Yes, we were a bit worried too, as expressed by a few others in this article because of the rain and whether or not the show would go on! Of course the show did go on, after all, this is Craig with its can do attitude. No monsoon rain was going to spoil the fun and now we have a new family tradition! Thanks again to the Craig Fire/Rescue, the B.L.M. and the Moffat County Sheriff’s Office; hope you all got the mud off your boots!

Congratulations. We appreciate the hard work, as well as understanding where the future in technology was heading and recognizing that we could lead the way. While Craig may be considered small in size compared to a big city, it is wonderful that we have forward thinking leadership that has enabled the city to be recognized as a leader to be envied by larger cities in this very important arena. A big thank you to the both teams in tackling the difficult challenges of this very important transition with both professionalism and superb collaboration. Great job and thank you!

I want to thank Ms. Albers for writing to the Daily Press today about the increasingly troubling issue of personal and libelous attacks taking place within our online community and specifically here on the Daily Press forum. I have been in the Moffat County area for only a short time and have been welcomed with open arms and deeply appreciate the friendliness shown by the generous people of Moffat County.

Online forum users may not realize that many potential employees and employers will canvass forums to learn about a community and give weight in their decision making processes as to whether a particular community will be a healthy environment by creating profiles of cities and towns that are both business and family friendly.

I am a voracious reader of both online and print content and always travel to online forums where either I am going to vacation, conduct long term business or if I am entertaining the idea of moving to an area. Holding to this past practice and before I applied for the position in which I now hold within the community and visited this online forum frequently. While I found a majority of stories and related comments full of valuable, positive information, there were a few postings that caused me heartache as they were filled with personal attacks, which seemed to only be posted by individuals with a personal axe to grind.

During my hiring process, there were numerous personal and professional attacks made on the Daily Press forums about the other finalist. I found it extremely unfortunate that community members would use the online forum to attack this person, as it was extremely unfair to the entire hiring process and to both finalists in general. After watching the forums become increasing hostile and with seemingly little intervention from the online administrators, I finally commented on the forum and stated my displeasure about the nature of the personal attacks, as did the other candidate.

I am pleased the Daily Press has this afternoon announced it will enforce its End User Agreement (EUA). While I am disappointed that it has taken such a long time to come to this decision, I very much value the opportunity an online forum allows the community at large to participate through this at times complex medium.

The Wyman Museum has been such a blessing to the community of Craig and Moffat County, with Lou and Paula always giving back. We look forward to the full hours returning in June, but in the meantime, on the days it is open, lets make a full effort as a community to support this wonderful treasure!